March 15, 2025
Saturday of the First Week of Lent
Lectionary: 229
Reading 1
Moses spoke to the people, saying:
"This day the LORD, your God,
commands you to observe these statutes and decrees.
Be careful, then,
to observe them with all your heart and with all your soul.
Today you are making this agreement with the LORD:
he is to be your God and you are to walk in his ways
and observe his statutes, commandments and decrees,
and to hearken to his voice.
And today the LORD is making this agreement with you:
you are to be a people peculiarly his own, as he promised you;
and provided you keep all his commandments,
he will then raise you high in praise and renown and glory
above all other nations he has made,
and you will be a people sacred to the LORD, your God,
as he promised."
Responsorial Psalm
R. (1b) Blessed are they who follow the law of
the Lord!
Blessed are they whose way is blameless,
who walk in the law of the LORD.
Blessed are they who observe his decrees,
who seek him with all their heart.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
You have commanded that your precepts
be diligently kept.
Oh, that I might be firm in the ways
of keeping your statutes!
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
I will give you thanks with an upright heart,
when I have learned your just ordinances.
I will keep your statutes;
do not utterly forsake me.
R. Blessed are they who follow the law of the Lord!
Verse Before the Gospel
Behold, now is a very acceptable time;
behold, now is the day of salvation.
Gospel
Jesus said to his disciples:
"You have heard that it was said,
You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.
But I say to you, love your enemies,
and pray for those who persecute you,
that you may be children of your heavenly Father,
for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good,
and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust.
For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have?
Do not the tax collectors do the same?
And if you greet your brothers and sisters only,
what is unusual about that?
Do not the pagans do the same?
So be perfect, just as your heavenly Father is perfect."
https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/031525.cfm
Commentary on
Deuteronomy 26:16-19
Today’s reading comes from the last part of the Book of
Deuteronomy, which is also the last of the five books forming the Pentateuch.
It contains the covenant laws by which the lives of observant Jews were guided.
Moses reminds the people of the solemn agreement that has
been made between God and them:
Today you have obtained the Lord’s agreement…
And the declaration is that he will be their God and they
are to:
…walk in his ways…keep his statutes, his commandments,
and his ordinances…and to obey him.
It is a mutually binding contract. However, it does not mean
that if the people fail, they will be abandoned by God. In fact the opposite is
true: their subsequent back-sliding highlights the fidelity of God!
This is also evident everywhere in the New Testament and
also in our liturgy. The Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation says:
Though time and again we have broken your covenant,
You have bound the human family to yourself
through Jesus Christ our redeemer
with a bond so tight that it can never be undone.
The reading has to be read in the later context of the
Gospel, which spells out more clearly just what are the commandments and
statutes that really count. The emphasis in the Law of the Old Testament was
very much on external observance of rules and regulations. The emphasis in the
Gospel is very much on our interior attitude and on the mutual relationships
between God, other people and oneself. Today’s Gospel passage on loving even
one’s enemies shows, in particular, how far God’s commands are to be observed.
Nevertheless, the basic message stands: he is our God and we
are to walk in his ways and to listen to his voice. That is the covenant that
has been made between God and his people.
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Commentary on
Matthew 5:43-48
Today’s passage, like yesterday’s, comes from the Sermon on
the Mount. The two passages are related, as they both speak of dealing with people
with whom we have difficulties.
Today’s is a passage which many find difficult, too
idealistic, or just downright meaningless. The Mosaic Law said that one must
love one’s neighbour. It does not actually say we should hate our enemies, but
in practice such hatred was condoned. Jesus rejects that teaching outright for
his followers. We are to love our enemies and pray for them. How can we
possibly do that? It is important that we understand what ‘love’ here means.
In Greek, it is the word agape, a deep concern
for the good of the other that reaches out, even if there is nothing in return.
It is not sexual, physical love (eros), nor is it the mutual love of
intimate friendship or that between marriage partners (philia).
“Enemy” here means those who do harm to us in some way. It
does not include the people we turn into enemies because we don’t like them.
The true Christian does not have this kind of enemy. The main reason Jesus
gives for acting in a loving way is that this is what God himself does.
God has many friends and many who are opposed to him, yet he
treats them all exactly the same. God’s agape love reaches out to all
indiscriminately, just as the welcome rain falls and the burning sun shines
with equal impartiality on every single person.
Elsewhere we are told that God is love; it
is his nature; he cannot do anything else. And that love is extended equally to
every single person—to Our Lady, to St Teresa of Calcutta (Mother Teresa), to
the murdering terrorist, the serial killer, the abusive husband, the
paedophile—to everyone. The difference is not in God’s love for each of these
people, but in their response to that love.
Jesus tells us that we must try to love people in the same
way he does. It is important to note that he is not telling us to be in love
with those who harm us, or even to like them, or to have them as our friends.
That would be unrealistic and unreasonable to ask.
But if we just care for those who are nice to us, how are we
different from others? Even people who murder, or have no religion or morals,
may do the same. But we are called to imitate the God in whose image we have
been made.
And is it so unreasonable to love, to care for, to have
genuine concern for our enemies, and pray for them? One presumes, as we have
said, they are enemies in the sense that they are hostile to us, even though we
may not have provoked them in any way. True Christians, from their side, do not
have enemies.
For someone to be my enemy, it means that person really
hates me, and may wish to do harm to me or may already have harmed me in some
way. What do I gain by hating that person back? Then there are two of us who
hate. Why should I allow another person’s hate to influence my feelings towards
them? A person who hates is a person who is suffering, a person who is doing
more damage to himself or herself, rather than to the supposed enemy. As the
Gospel says, another person can hurt my body but not my inner self.
And if he or she does harm me, they harm themselves as
well—even if they get twisted pleasure in the short term. If I have a true
Christian spirit, I will reach out in compassion to that person. I will want that
person to be healed, healed of their hatred, healed of their anger, and to
learn how to love. Surely it is much better, and makes more sense, to pray for
that person than to hate them back—to bring about healing and reconciliation,
rather than deepen the wound on both sides.
What Jesus is asking us to do is not something impossible or
unnatural. It is the only thing that makes sense, and will bring peace to me
and hopefully, in time, to the person who is hostile to me. We can literally
disarm a hating person by acting towards them in a positive and loving way, and
refusing to be controlled by their negative attitudes:
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called
children of God. (Matt 5:9)
Jesus tells us today:
Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is
perfect.
Obviously, this is an ideal that we can only reach for. But
it is a call to do our utmost to imitate God in extending our goodwill
impartially and unconditionally to every single person. This is not just a
commandment. When we reflect on it, it is simply common sense and it is as much
in our own interest as it benefits others.
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https://livingspace.sacredspace.ie/l1017g/
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Season of Lent
Opening Prayer
Lord God, from You comes the initiative of love. You seek us out and You tell us: I am your
God; you are my people. You love us in Jesus Christ, Your Son. God, may our
response of love go far beyond the demands of any law. May we seek You and
commune with You in the deepest of our
being and may we express our gratitude to You by going to our neighbor with a
love that is
spontaneous like Yours. We ask You this through Christ our
Lord.
Gospel Reading -
Matthew 5: 43-48
Jesus said to his disciples: "You have heard that it
was said, You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you,
love your enemies, and pray for those
who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for
he makes his sun rise on the bad and the
good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust. For if you love those
who love you, what recompense will you
have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you
greet your brothers and sisters only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So
be perfect, just as your heavenly Father
is perfect."
Reflection
In today’s Gospel we see how Jesus has interpreted the
commandment “You shall not kill” in such a way that its observance leads to the
practice of love. Besides saying “You shall not kill” (Mt 5: 21), Jesus quoted
four other commandments of the ancient law: you shall not commit adultery (Mt
5: 27), you shall not bear false witness (Mt 5: 33), eye for eye, and tooth for
tooth (Mt 5: 38) and, in today’s Gospel, you shall love your neighbor and will
hate your enemy (Mt 5: 43), five times, Jesus criticizes and completes the ancient way of observing these
commandments and indicates the new way to attain the objective of the law, which is the
practice of love (Mt 5: 22-26; 5: 28-32; 5: 34-37; 5: 39-42; 5: 44-48). Love
your enemies. In today's Gospel Jesus quotes the ancient law which says: You
will love your neighbor and hate your enemy. This text is not found like this in
the Old Testament. It is more a question of the mentality of the time, according
to which there was no problem if a person hated his enemy. Jesus was not in agreement
and says: But I tell you: if you love
those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do
as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing
anything exceptional? Do not even the gentiles do as much? You must, therefore, set no bounds to your love, just as your
heavenly Father sets none to His. And Jesus gives us the proof. At the hour of
His death He observed that which He preached.
Father, forgive them,
they do not know what they are doing. A soldier takes the wrist of Jesus and
places it on the arm of the cross, places a nail and begins to hammer it in.
Several times. The blood was flowing down. The body of Jesus contorted with
pain. The soldier, a mercenary, ignorant, far from knowing what he was doing,
and of what was happening around him, continued to hammer as if it were a piece
of the wall of his house and he had to
put up a picture. At that moment Jesus prays for the soldier who tortures Him
and addresses His prayer to the Father: Father, forgive them! They know not what
they are doing! He loved the soldier who killed Him. Even wanting it with
all their strength, the lack of humanity
did not succeed to kill in Jesus His humanity and love! He will be imprisoned, they will spit on Him, will
laugh and make fun of Him, they will make of Him a false king crowning Him with
a crown of thorns, they will torture Him, will oblige Him to go through the
streets like a criminal hearing the insults of the religious authority. On
Calvary they will leave Him completely naked in the sight of all. But the poison of this lack of
humanity did not succeed in suppressing the source of love and humanity which sprang from within
Jesus.
The water of the love which sprang from within was stronger
than the poison of hatred which was coming from without. Looking at that
soldier, Jesus felt sorrow and prayed for him and for all: Father, forgive them! They know not what they are doing!
Jesus, in solidarity, almost excuses those who were ill-treating and torturing
Him. He was like a brother who goes with his murderous brothers before the
judge and he, the victim of his own brothers, says to the judge: They are my
brothers, you know they are ignorant. Forgive them! They will become better! He
loved the enemy!
Be perfect as is your Father who is in Heaven. Jesus does
not want to frighten, because this would
be useless. He wants to change the system of human living altogether. The
notion which He constructs comes from the new experience He has from God the
Father, full of tenderness and who accepts all! The words of threat against the
rich cannot be an occasion of revenge on the part of the poor. Jesus orders
that we have a contrary attitude: Love your enemies! True love cannot depend on
what one receives from others. Love should want the good of others
independently of what they do for me. This is the way God s love is for us.
Personal Questions
• Am I capable to
love my enemies?
• Contemplate Jesus,
in silence, who at the hour of His death, loved the enemy who killed Him.
Concluding Prayer
How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in
the Law of Yahweh!
Blessed are those who observe His instructions, who seek Him
with all their hearts (Ps 119: 1-2)
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